Over the years I have known business men who were basically nothing more than hard core criminals and thieves. They cheated in business, were ruthless when it came to co-workers or associates and even cheated on their wives but somehow managed to have the image and appearance of an upstanding all American citizen. On the other side of the coin I have known petty thieves and low level crooks who have the hardcore look you might expect.
When I look at someone I kind of expect that I will know something about them by thier look, but I know this is not really the case. I have always had a little bit of that tough guy look no matter how I dress or cut my hair but I am really not a tough guy, I grew up in a tough enviroment and I have always thought that somehow it just showed. Is the "look" something we manufacture or does it grow on us?
George Orwell said it best: “At fifty every man has the face he deserves.”
I think there might be something to a childhood/development environment affecting the habitual expression or set of one’s face; in a tough neighborhood, you develop a darker, scowling expression to put people off. A pleasant expression makes you a victim or a mark. In a gentler setting, a dark expression would be discouraged in favor of looking pleasant. Perhaps that’s simplistic but I think it’s a valid start.
It’d be easy to test scientifically, with a double-blind arrangement. Get 500 people to fill out questionnaires on basic personality, then show 50 observers their photographs. “Does this guy look mean? Does this woman look cruel?”
Easy as pie. Maybe there’d be a loose correlation, but I’d bet against a strong one.
Lots and lots of people are bad poker players, because their expressions give away information about their hands. But not everyone! Occasionally, you’ll bump into someone with a really good poker face, and at that point…you better know the odds and play them, 'cause you can’t “play the player.”
Surely there are no few psychopathic ratbags out there, with very pleasant expressions.
I’m not sure if this relates directly to the OP’s question but it came mind while reading the post. Years ago, I was friends with a man who worked as in-house legal counsel for a mid-sized manufacturing company. He had had a fairly ordinary upbringing in a low-middle class family. Because he’d had terrible acne as a teenager, his face was rough and pitted but he was very handsome and had beautiful eyes and a deep, rich voice. When I first met him, he regularly wore the standard business uniform: suit with starched shirt and nice tie. He took pride in his appearance, dressed well, was well-spoken and looked, to me, more masculine than tough.
Ultimately, he left corporate law to become a court-appointed defense lawyer. His clients were all inmates in custody, many who had been in prison for years. I didn’t see him for a couple of years, then ran into him at a law-related event. He looked like an inmate! He had grown his hair long (down onto his collar) and was combing it straight back with a greasy styling pomade. He wore a white t-shirt visible under his light blue open-necked shirt and gray slacks. No tie. His voice was rough. He’d developed a slighty shifty way of looking – or not looking – at people. He’d transformed into the clients he served. I knew he was concerned with their plight – that’s why he changed jobs. But I hadn’t expected him to start looking in like them! He didn’t look handsomely masculine anymore, either. He looked threatening and dangerous.
What I’ve never figured out was which was the real version of him?
That was exactly my question. In his case he succesfully covered it up when he was with the law firm and then seemingly either reverted back of became who he actually was. In all my 65 years I have only really dressed up maybe a dozen times, never with a very expensive suit and shoes with accessories. I dress nice as a general rule but in sports clothes. I am often percieved to be a gangster if I am dressed, or a tough guy if I am in work clothes. I have been so tempted on many occassions to go to a stylist and tell him to make me look like a successful excecutive type. I have good teeth and good skin. In my retirement it is really starting to bug me as I am making new friends who are introducing me to their friends in circles I am not comfortable with. I can tell I don’t fit in on the golf course for instance. I need a stylist!!
I’m a bit confused. You say your new friends are introducing you to friends in circles you’re not comfortable with. Are the people within the new circle gangster-types and you’re being introduced as if you’d have something in common with them, or are the people in the new circle not comfortable with you, because they assume you are a gangster/tough guy?
